Maps of Music

Testing (2018)

Where the lyrics of Testing take you, and where it was really made.

Rocky said the album was about testing new sounds, but critics split between praising the experiments and saying they did not always work.

Key places

Recording place: Germano, New York City (2018)

Recording site Record Plant Studios — Testing is credited as recorded at Germano in New York City. The pin uses the city center, so it does not mark the exact building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Testing (stylized in all caps): third studio album by American rapper ASAP Rocky
• Released May 25, 2018 by ASAP Worldwide, Polo Grounds Music and RCA Records
• Guests include Frank Ocean, Kid Cudi, Skepta, French Montana, Kodak Black, Dev Hynes and FKA Twigs
• Produced mainly by Hector Delgado and ASAP Rocky himself, alongside a variety of high-profile record producers
• Supported by two singles, "ASAP Forever" and "Praise the Lord (Da Shine)", plus numerous promotional singles

Background

• September 2017: Rocky announced a new album, originally scheduled for a late 2017 release
• The previous month he released Cozy Tapes Vol. 2: Too Cozy as part of the ASAP Mob collective
• January 2018: the title was left in SoundCloud song descriptions in a cryptic way
• May 2018: the title was officially confirmed
• In an interview with GQ, Rocky said: "My new album is really about testing new sounds."
• His stated goal was to experiment and let his audience grow with him, reaching new crowds
• "ASAP Forever" featuring Moby was released as the lead single on April 5, 2018
• "Praise the Lord (Da Shine)" featuring Skepta was sent to rhythmic and urban contemporary radio on June 26, 2018

Cover

• Cover photo by Houston-based creative director Cary Fagan
• 10 shadowy figures surround a bold typeface logo
• Artwork unveiled May 21, 2018; tracklist announced three days later

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Rakim Athelston Mayers, born October 3, 1988, in Harlem, New York City; known as A$AP Rocky
• Joined the Harlem collective A$AP Mob in 2007; took his stage name from it
• Signed with Polo Grounds Music (RCA) in October 2011 after the mixtape Live. Love. A$AP

Career

• Debut album Long. Live. A$AP (2013) debuted at number one on the Billboard 200
• Second album At. Long. Last. A$AP (2015) also debuted at number one; third album Testing (2018) reached the top five
• Fourth album Don't Be Dumb (2026) debuted at number one
• Acted in Dope (2015), Monster (2018), Highest 2 Lowest (2025) and If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (2025)
• Founded creative agency and label AWGE in 2014; co-founded VLONE and launched the whisky brand Mercer + Prince
• Acquitted in February 2025 of the 2021 Hollywood shooting charge

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Testing was met with generally positive reviews
• Metacritic: average score of 67 out of 100 from eight reviews of mainstream publications
• Consequence's Bansky Gonzalez gave a positive review, welcoming the album in a genre crowded with spacey, bare-bones productions
• The Guardian's Dean Van Nguyen called the album out of step with any mainstream rap album likely to be heard that year, but a spottier affair with too many tracks diminishing his strengths
• Exclaim!'s Kassandra Guagliardi described it as a shedding of the artist's old skin and a rebirth of something more profound and slightly more complicated
• Billboard's Andreas Hale praised the experimentation but said Rocky remained style over substance
• Highsnobiety's Jake Boyer called it an absolute triumph and his most thoughtful, most ambitious and most rewarding project to date
• The A.V. Club's Nina Hernandez said the album is as loose and incohesive as its title suggests, but there is a lot to like
• HipHopDX gave a mixed review, saying no new movement was born and that Rocky drowned in his own ambitions
• Pitchfork's Stephen Kearse found flaws in the experimentation, writing that the results are often dismal
• Now's Kevin Ritchie said the album delivers more tentativeness than experimentation, with lyrics and flows less ambitious than the production
• AllMusic's Fred Thomas called it more musical than anything Rocky had released before, but also more confused
• Frank Ocean's collaboration "Purity" and the FKA Twigs track "Fukk Sleep" were singled out as risks that pushed Rocky into exciting territory
• In France, Les Inrockuptibles' François Moreau said Rocky opened new territory with many features, while Libération's Olivier Lamm said he disappointed through ambition and naivety

Records

• Debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 with 75,000 album-equivalent units, 13,000 of them pure sales
• Third consecutive top-five album for Rocky on the chart
• Second week: number 15 with 26,000 units (1,000 pure album sales)
• Third week: number 22; fourth and fifth weeks: numbers 37 and 41
• Left the top 50 in its sixth week at number 56, then number 60 in its seventh week
• "ASAP Forever" peaked at number 65 on the US Billboard Hot 100
• October 16, 2019: RIAA gold certification for over 500,000 combined sales and album-equivalent units in the United States

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• "ASAP Forever" featuring Moby was the lead single, released April 5, 2018; it peaked at number 65 on the US Billboard Hot 100
• The album version of "ASAP Forever" adds guest appearances from Kid Cudi and T.I.
• "Purity" with Frank Ocean contains a sample of Lauryn Hill's "I Gotta Find Peace of Mind"
• "Brotha Man" has background vocals by Frank Ocean and Snoop Dogg
• "Tony Tone" features background vocals by Puff Daddy
• The album's title itself refers to testing new sounds and pushing in new directions in hopes of growth

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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